In the first issue at least, you seem to be pushing the 'Detroit as a character' idea even further as the characters consider a major election, a new push of racism, a new newsroom, etc. But for me, a lot of the shape of a thing takes place in the writing, so there are always surprises!

I always planned to write more of Elena's story, so I knew some of the broad outlines, characters, themes, and historical stuff that I wanted to tackle. How did the story for 1973 come about? Did you have it in your mind as you were writing the first Abbott miniseries or did you piece it together after the first issue came out? Check out the full Q&A below, along with an exclusive preview of Abbott: 1973 #1 in the gallery. We even found time to ask about Miles Morales. SYFY WIRE reached out to Ahmed to talk about returning to Abbott two years after the first volume launched, collaborating with Kivelä, writing about issues from the 1970s that still feel relevant now, and much more. But of course, darkness is still following her, and as the election of Detroit's first Black mayor looms, Elena will find that the evil she thought she'd vanquished in the last volume was only the beginning. She's got a new job at a Black newspaper in the city, a new romance with an old friend, and she's getting better at controlling the strange 'Lightbringer' powers she discovered she possessed in the previous volume. This time around, it's a new year and in some ways a whole new world for Elena. This week, Ahmed and artist Sami Kivelä launched Abbott: 1973, the second volume of their acclaimed BOOM! Studios supernatural period drama Abbott, which follows journalist Elena Abbott as she investigates threats to Detroit that exist at the strange, dangerous intersection of white supremacy and supernatural menace. He also went back to 1970s Detroit and a determined reporter working to get to the bottom of some very dark problems in her city. But even that wasn't the full extent of Ahmed's new projects.

Marvel and Spider-Man: Miles Morales - he also found time last year to launch a major Kickstarter campaign for Dragon, a new graphic novel built around the infamous Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula. In addition to keeping up with writing two ongoing young superhero series at Marvel Comics - The Magnificent Ms.

Saladin ahmed abbott